"We are on a just mission, fighting for the peace and security of our citizens," Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said on Thursday during a ceremony swearing in president-elect Reuvan Rivlin. He expressed his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers.

"We are not having this ceremony because of the law but because citizens want to hear the voice of the president," he said.

To outgoing President Shimon Peres, he said, "You were head of a party when you became president, left politics aside, and became a man of the people."